ArticlePDF Available

Logical Semantics in the “Stories for Rainy Days” by Naela Ali

Authors:

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the elaboration, extension, and improvement contained in the data. The data source of this research is Naela Ali’s story of rainy days written by Naela Ali as the best-selling short story in 2018. The research data is in the form of clauses collected from short stories on rainy days. The theory used to analyze the meaning of the data is a logical-semantic theory. From this study, There are 3 types of logical semantic found in “Stories for Rainy Days” Short Story By Naela Ali: elaboration, extension, and enhancement. this research concludes that there is 83 logical semantics (expansion) found in the "stories for rainy days" consisting of 5 elaborations; 65 paratactic extensions and 1 hypotactic extension; 1 increased paratactic and 9 increased hypotactic; and 2 extensions and enhancements. The realization of logical semantic relation used in “Stories for Rainy Days” Short Story By Naela Ali based on the kinds of each logical-semantics those are: Elaboration consist of exemplification and clarification, there is no exposition. Extension consists of addition, variation, alternation. Enhancement consists of paratactic enhancement and hypotactic enhancement including manner, causal-purpose, spatial and causal-reason.
LingPoet: Journal of Linguistics and Literary Research Vol. 2, No. 2, 2021 | 54-63
LingPoet: Journal of Linguistics and Literary
Research
Logical Semantics in the “Stories for Rainy Days” by
Naela Ali
Rada Mayasari1
*
, Masdiana Lubis2, Dian Marisha Putri3
1,2,3Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Sumatra Utara, Medan, Indonesia
Abstract. This research aims to analyze the elaboration, extension, and improvement
contained in the data. The data source of this research is Naela Ali’s story of rainy days
written by Naela Ali as the best-selling short story in 2018. The research data is in the form
of clauses collected from short stories on rainy days. The theory used to analyze the
meaning of the data is a logical-semantic theory. From this study, There are 3 types of
logical semantic found in “Stories for Rainy Days” Short Story By Naela Ali: elaboration,
extension, and enhancement. this research concludes that there is 83 logical semantics
(expansion) found in the "stories for rainy days" consisting of 5 elaborations; 65 paratactic
extensions and 1 hypotactic extension; 1 increased paratactic and 9 increased hypotactic;
and 2 extensions and enhancements. The realization of logical semantic relation used in
“Stories for Rainy Days” Short Story By Naela Ali based on the kinds of each logical-
semantics those are: Elaboration consist of exemplification and clarification, there is no
exposition. Extension consists of addition, variation, alternation. Enhancement consists of
paratactic enhancement and hypotactic enhancement including manner, causal-purpose,
spatial and causal-reason.
Keyword: Metafunction, logico semantics, complex clauses.
Received [10 Feb 2021] | Revised [27 Apr 2021] | Accepted [20 May 2021]
1. Introduction
The logical semantic relationship is the relationship between the clauses in the clause complex
and the relationship between the primary and secondary clauses. Halliday (1985) argues that
logico-semantic relations are any different kinds of logical semantic relationships that may exist
between the primary and secondary members of the clause complex. The study of taxis and
logical semantic systems is concerned with the term metafunction. This metafunction is divided
into ideational meaning, interpersonal meaning, and textual meaning. However, taxis and
logical semantic systems are included in the ideational meaning.
*
Corresponding author at: English department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara
E-mail address: radamayasari@gmail.com
Copyright © 2021 Published by Talenta Publisher, e-ISSN: 2745-8296
Journal Homepage: http://talenta.usu.ac.id/lingpoet
55
This research paper confines itself to the analysis of logical functions. It is a cab and logical
semantic system between the clauses in the clause complex. The clauses are joined by one of
two logico-semantic relationships: expansion or projection. Process expansion links by
providing additional information. It involves three types of relationships: elaboration,
expansion, and temporary enhancement of projection link clauses by making one process
project another process either by quoting or reporting. Both meanings (ideas) and words (locus)
can be projected. This projection is closely related to the transitivity system or clause as a
representation.
The complexity of the clause is related to the relationship between the clause (logico-semantic
relationship), coordination (parataxis) and subordination (hypothetical) (Matthiessen &
Thompson, 1988: 275-329). Gerot & Wignell (1994: 89) describes that a clause complex is a
sequence of logically connected processes. Gerot & Wignell (1994: 92) also argue that
expansions and projections are combined with systems of interdependence, or taxis, to form a
system for combining clauses. These taxis are divided into two types of connection: parataxis
and hypothetical. Parataxis is a logical interdependence between clauses where the
interdependencies have the same status while hypothetical is a logical interdependence between
clauses where the independence has different status (Halliday, 1994: 216).
In the research, the author was focus on expansion. In this research, the author took data from
the expansion of the "Stories For Rainy Days" short story By Naela Ali, the author explains that
the short story "Stories For Rainy Days" by Naela Ali has many clauses contained in the
sentence. The author chose this short story because many use complex clauses that are difficult
to understand in short stories.
2. Review of Literature
2.1 Systemic Functional Grammar
Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) System functional grammar is a unit of the highest clause
where there is a set of words consisting of two or more clauses, called complex clauses, this
complex clause is not limited to these two clauses. Halliday (1985: 193).
2.2 The Ideational Function
The ideational function is related to the world of external and inner reality; it is
"language about something". According to Halliday (1978: 112), whenever someone
contemplates the world of external phenomena or the internal world of one's
consciousness, the reflection representation took the form of 'content'.
56
2.3 Logical Function
In the complex interpretation of clauses, Halliday (1985b, 1994) has introduced the fourth
component of meaning which is not needed in the analysis of a single clause: the logical
component of meaning is the meaning in the function of semantic relations between clauses that
makes logical from natural language. The logical meaning of language (clause) which embodies
the function of semantic relations between clauses that form the logic of natural language, is
realized by the complex system of the language clause, which is related to logical-semantic
relations and interdependence.
2.4. Logical Semantic Relations
The logical semantic relationship is the relationship between the clauses in the clause complex
and the relationship between the primary and secondary clauses. Halliday (1985: 196) argues
that logico-semantic relations are any different kinds of logical semantic relationships that may
exist between the primary and secondary members of the clause complex.
2.5 Expansion
Expansion links Processes by providing additional information. it invo;ves three types of
relationship: Elaboration, Extension, and Enhancement.
2.5.1 Elaboration
Elaboration is one of the subtypes of expansion that is concerned with the relationships of two
clauses in a clause complex in which the second clause elaborates the meaning of the first
clause. The elaboration can be paratactic or hypotactic.
1. Practice elaboration refers to the relationship between two independent clauses in a
clause complex in which the secondary clause elaborates the meaning of the primary
clause by exposition (restatement), exemplification, or clarification (comment).
2. Hypotactic elaboration refers to the relationship between the independent clause and the
dependent clause in a clause complex in which the latter elaborates the meaning of the
former by the structural property know as a non-restrictive clause. The dependent clause
may elaborate on the independent clause as a whole or partially. The dependent clause
as the elaborator may be in the form of either a finite clause or a non-finite clause.
2.5.2 Extension
The extension is one of the subtypes of expansion that is concerned with the relationships of
two clauses in the meaning of the first clause.
1. Paratactic extension refers to the relationship between two independent clauses in a
clause complex in which the secondary clause extends the meaning of the primary
clause by addition, variation or alternation. The combination of two independent
57
clauses by way of makes use of coordinating conjunction such as and, so, or but, nor,
etc. And other conjunctive.
2. Hypotactic extension refers to the relationship between the independent clause and the
dependent clause in a clause complex in which the second clause extends the meaning
of the first by contrastive dependent clause in the extension may be in the form of a
finite clause or a non-finite clause.
2 .5.3 Enhancement
Enhancement is one of the subtypes of expansion that is concerned with the relationships of two
clauses in a clause complex in which the second clause enhances the meaning of the first clause.
1. Paratactic enhancement refers to the relationship between two independent clause
complexes in which the secondary clause enhances the meaning of the primary clause
by reference to some circumstantial feature: time, place, manner, condition, purpose,
cause, concession, etc.
2. Hypotactic enhancement refers to the relationship between the independent clause and
dependent clause in clause complex in which the dependent clause enhances the
meaning of the dominant clause by reference to some circumstantial features: temporal,
location, manner, condition, purpose, cause, concession, etc. Suhandi (2015: 117-125).
2.6 Taxis
Taxis refers to the dependency status of the clauses in a clause complex. In traditional grammar,
this called subordination. The term paratactic is used when one clause follows on from another.
in traditional grammar this is called coordination. (Gerot & Wignell (1994: 92)).
3. Research Method
This research was being carried out using a qualitative descriptive design with case studies to
illustrate an analysis of Expansion found In the “Stories For Rainy Days” Short Story by Naela
Ali. According to Bogdan and Biklen (1992), qualitative research is a direct source of data and
researchers are the main instrument, qualitative means to find out how theories work in different
phenomena whose data is collected in words rather than words numbers. Qualitative releases
have a natural setting, try, make sense, or interpret phenomena in the turmoil of meaning that
people bring to them. This research also uses a descriptive design.
A chapter from the analysis of expansion found in the “Stories For Rainy Days” Short Story by
Naela Ali consisted of 40 chapters in the form of a clause. The expansion considered as the data
in the form of clauses. The source of data in this research is Neala Ali’s Stories For Rainy Days
which is written by Naela Ali as the bestseller short story in 2018.
58
The data collection method used is the documentation method with the following steps.
1. Reading the short story “Stories for Rainy Days” by Naela Ali
2. Finding complex clause (Expansion)
3. Identifying complex clauses based on semantic logic.
4. Classifying the expansion is based on elaboration, extension, and enhancement.
5. Tabulating the expansion and make its recapitulation. Miles, Huberman and Saldana
(2014).
Data were analyzed based on an interactive model proposed by Miles, Huberman, and Saldana
(2014). In this research, data selection was carried out in accordance with the issues raised.
Where the data are grouped and also the final results of this research can be reviewed. The data
analysis consisted of three stages. This consists of data condensation, data display, and
conclusion or verification.
4. Result and Discussion
This research were taken from in the “Stories for Rainy Days” short story by Naela Ali which
consisted of 40 chapters in the form of clause. The data were limited on three types of
expansion of logical semantic; those are elaboration, extension and enhancement. Furthermore
the researcher classified the three types of expansion based on interpendency relation parataxis
and hypotaxis. Finally, the result showed there where it can be seen that there are 83 logical
semantic (expansion) found in the “Stories for Rainy Days” consist of 5 elaborations; 65
paratactic extensions and 1 hypotactic extension; 1 paratactic enhancement and 9 hypotactic
enhancement; and 2 combinations of extension and enhancement.
4.1 Data Analysis
Table 4.1: The Recapitulation of Logical Semantic-Expansion found in the “Stories for
Rainy Days” by Naela Ali
Chapter
Expansion
Chapter
Elaboration
Para/Hypo
Enhancement
Para/Hypo
Mix
Chapter 1
1
-
-
Chapter 2
-
-
-
59
Chapter 3
-
-
-
Chapter 4
-
-
-
Chapter 5
-
-
-
Chapter 6
1
-
-
Chapter 7
-
-/1
-
Chapter 8
-
-
-
Table 4.1: Advanced
Chapter
Elaboration
Para/Hypo
Enhancement
Para/Hypo
Combination
Chapter 9
-
-
-
Chapter 10
-
-
1(ex.p-en.h)
Chapter 11
1
-/1
-
Chapter 12
-
-
-
Chapter 13
-
-
-
Chapter 14
-
-/1
-
Chapter 15
-
-
-
Chapter 16
-
-/2
-
Chapter 17
-
-
-
Chapter 18
-
-
-
60
Chapter 19
-
-/1
-
Chapter 20
1
1
-
Chapter 21
-
-
-
Chapter 22
-
-
-
Chapter 23
-
-
-
Chapter 24
-
-
-
Chapter 25
1
-
-
Chapter 26
-
-/1
-
Chapter 27
-
-
-
Chapter 28
-
-
-
Chapter 29
-
-
-
Chapter 30
-
-
-
Chapter 31
-
-/1
-
Chapter 32
-
-
-
Chapter 33
-
-
-
Chapter 34
-
-
1(ex.p-en.h)
Chapter 35
-
-
-
Chapter 36
-
-
-
Chapter 37
-
-
-
61
Chapter 38
-
-
-
Chapter 39
-
-/1
-
Chapter 40
-
-
-
Total
5
1/9
2
From table 4.1
4.1.1 Elaboration
One of them can be analyzed below:
Chapter 1:
1.1
It wasn’t there
like I wasn’t there.
1
= 2
The clause complex above consists of two clauses and composed in paratactic relation. It can be
seen by the two clauses are symbolized by the numerical information 1, = 2. It means that the
clause complex above is made by relating two equal clauses or two independent clauses. The
first clause “It wasn’t there” related to the clause like I wasn’t there” by using the conjunctive
signal “like”.
In paratactic relation symbolized by 1^2. The relation of logico-semantic is the only elaboration
symbolized by “=”. The elaboration type is exemplification. The secondary clause“I wasn’t
there” develops the meaning of the primary clause “It wasn’t there” by further specifying or
giving an example.
4.2 Findings
4.2.1 Types of Logical semantic found in the “Stories for Rainy Days” by Neala Ali
After reading the object of this research that is “Stories for Rainy Days” by Naela Ali, the
researcher identified the types of logical semantic found that is the expansion and divided them
based on their type namely elaboration, extension, and enhancement.
62
4.2.2 The Realization of Logical Semantic Relation used in the “Stories for Rainy Days” by
Naela Ali
Based on the kinds of each logical-semantics they are:
a. Elaboration consists of exemplification and clarification, there is no exposition.
b. Extension consist of addition, variation, alternation.
c. Enhancement consists of paratactic enhancement and hypotactic enhancement including
manner, causal-purpose, spatial, and causal-reason.
5. Conclusion
Based on the findings of this study, the conclusions are as the following:
a. There are 3 types of logical semantic found in the “Stories for Rainy Days” Short Story
By Naela Ali: elaboration, extension and enhancement. There is 83 logical semantics
(expansion) found in the "stories for rainy days" consisting of 5 elaborations; 65
paratactic extensions and 1 hypotactic extension; 1 increased paratactic and 9 increased
hypotactic; and 2 extensions and enhancements.
b. The realization of logical semantic relation used in the “Stories for Rainy Days” Short
Story By Naela Ali based on the kinds of each logical-semantics they are:
1. Elaboration consist of exemplification and clarification, there is no exposition.
2. Extension consist of addition, variation, alternation.
3. Enhancement consists of paratactic enhancement and hypotactic enhancement
including manner, causal-purpose, spatial, and causal-reason.
REFERENCES
[1] Alaei, M, and Ahangari, S. (2016). A Study of Ideational Metafunction in Joseph Conrad's
"Heart of Darkness": A Critical Discourse Analysis. in Canadian Center of Science and
Education: Journal of English Language Teaching; Vol. 9, No. 4; 2016.
[2] Ali, N. (2018). Stories For Rainy Days Volume III. Jakarta: Pt Gramedia Publications
Research.
[3] Bisiada, M. (2014). From Hypotaxis to Parataxis: An Investigation of English-German
Syntactic Convergence in Translation. The University of Manchester (United
Kingdom), Inggris: ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
[4] Bogdan, R.C, & Biklen, S. K. (1992). Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction
to Theory and Methods. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
[5] Bronkhorst, H., Roorda, G., Suhre, C., and Goedhart, M. (2020) Logical Reasoning in
Formal and Everyday Reasoning Tasks. in New York: International Journal of Science
and Mathematics Education, v18 n8 p1673-1694 Dec 2020.
[6] Gerot, L. And Wignel, P. (1994). Making sense of functional Grammar. Sydney:
Southwood press.
63
[7] Halliday, M.A.K. (1978). Language As A Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation Of
Language And Meaning. London: Edward Arnold.
[8] Halliday, M.A.K. (1985). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward
Arnold.
[9] Halliday, M.A.K. (1994). An Introduction Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
[10] Halliday, M.A.K. (2004). An Introduction To Functional Grammar. London: Edward
Arnold.
[11] Halliday, M.A.K. & C.M.I.M, Matthiesen (2014). Halliday’s Introduction To Functional
Grammar Fourth Edition. New York: Rotledge.
[12] Matthiessen, Christian M.I.M. & Thompson, Sandra A. (1988). Clause Combining In
Grammar And Discourse. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
[13] Miles, M.B, Huberman, A.M and Saldana, J. (2014). Qualitative Data Analysis, A
Methods Sourcebook, Edition 3. London: Sage Publications.
[14] Fatahillah, Raja Fanny. (2019). A Logico Semantic Analysisi in Jokowi and Prabowo
Political Campaigns. Indonesia : Universitas Sumatra Utara.
[15] Seyaji. A, Tarjana, S.S, Nababan, M.R, M.R. & Wiratno, T. (2019) Translation Analysis
of Taxis in “The Old Man and the Sea” Novel (Systemic Functional Linguistics
Approach). Journal of Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 245-
254. Indonesia : universitas sebelas maret.
[16] Sinar, T.S. (2002). An Introduction To A Systemic-Functional Linguistics-Oriented
Discourse Analysis. Singapore: Deezed Consult.
[17] Steel, G., Rose, M., and Eadie, P. (2016). The Production of Complement Clauses in
Children with Language Impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing
Research, v59 n2 p330-341 Apr 2016.
[18] Stubbs, M. (1983). Discourse Analysis: The Sociolinguistic Analysis Of Natural
Language (Vol. 4). Chicago: University Of Chicago Press.
[19] Suhandi, J. (2015). Course in English functional grammar. Medan: LPPM UINSU Press.
[20] Wahyuni, S. (2016). Qualitative Research Method: Theory And Practice Second Edition.
Jakarta: Salembaempat.
... Many researchers have employed the clause complex model to analyse texts from different perspectives, such as media discourse (Adjei and Opoku, 2017;Eid, 2016;Nasution, 2019), or literary discourse (Huang, 2021;Kurnia and Hidayat, 2019;Mayasari, Lubis and Putri, 2021;Wulansari, 2017). From the perspective of academic discourse, Leong (2021) studied forty research articles from the humanities and the hard sciences, with the argument that the two disciplines constitute two distinct varieties. ...
Article
Full-text available
Academic writing is considered persuasive (Hyland 2008) and as postgraduate students negotiate their entry into the research community, they are expected to build a formidable argument to create a research space for themselves in their research problem statements. As such, how they build logical connections of ideas in their problem statements is key, varying from one discipline to the other. This study explores Ghana. The findings reveal that regarding the basic clause complex structure of the three disciplines, English Language uses a lot of clause complexes compared to the other disciplines. Also, all three disciplines use considerable hypotactic relations and hypotactic projection of locution instead of idea since in the problem statements, writers report what others have said and not their own thoughts. In terms of relations of expansion, there are variations in the three disciplines, with English language favoring elaboration whilst Mathematics favor extension and enhancement. The use of expansion relations for Nursing is closer to that of English language. It is suggested that clause complexing is not only determined by genre and mode but also conventions of academic discipline. The findings have implication for theory and disciplinarity in academic writing.
Article
Full-text available
Logical reasoning is of great societal importance and, as stressed by the twenty-first century skills framework, also seen as a key aspect for the development of critical thinking. This study aims at exploring secondary school students’ logical reasoning strategies in formal reasoning and everyday reasoning tasks. With task-based interviews among 4 16- and 17-year-old pre-university students, we explored their reasoning strategies and the reasoning difficulties they encounter. In this article, we present results from linear ordering tasks, tasks with invalid syllogisms and a task with implicit reasoning in a newspaper article. The linear ordering tasks and the tasks with invalid syllogisms are presented formally (with symbols) and non-formally in ordinary language (without symbols). In tasks that were familiar to our students, they used rule-based reasoning strategies and provided correct answers although their initial interpretation differed. In tasks that were unfamiliar to our students, they almost always used informal interpretations and their answers were influenced by their own knowledge. When working on the newspaper article task, the students did not use strong formal schemes, which could have provided a clear overview. At the end of the article, we present a scheme showing which reasoning strategies are used by students in different types of tasks. This scheme might increase teachers’ awareness of the variety in reasoning strategies and can guide classroom discourse during courses on logical reasoning. We suggest that using suitable formalisations and visualisations might structure and improve students’ reasoning as well.
Thesis
Full-text available
Guided by the hypothesis that translation is a language contact situation that can influence language change, this study investigates a frequency shift from hypotactic to paratactic constructions in concessive and causal clauses in German management and business writing. The influence of the English SVO word order is assumed to cause language users of German to prefer verb-second, paratactic constructions to verb-final, hypotactic ones. The hypothesis is tested using a 1 million word diachronic corpus containing German translations and their source texts as well as a corpus of German non-translations. The texts date from 1982–3 and 2008, which allows a diachronic analysis of changes in the way English causal and concessive structures have been translated. The analysis shows that in the translations, parataxis is indeed becoming more frequent at the expense of hypotaxis, a phenomenon that, to some extent, also occurs in the non-translations. Based on a corpus of unedited draft translations, it can be shown that translators rather than editors are responsible for this shift. Most of the evidence, however, suggests that the shift towards parataxis is not predominantly caused by language contact with English. Instead, there seems to be a development towards syntactically simpler constructions in this genre, which is most evident in the strong tendency towards sentence-splitting and an increased use of sentence-initial conjunctions in translations and non-translations. This simplification seems to be compensated for, to some extent, by the establishment of pragmatic distinctions between specific causal and concessive conjunctions.
Article
Full-text available
Purpose The purpose of this research was to provide a comprehensive description of complement-clause production in children with language impairment. Complement clauses were examined with respect to types of complement structure produced, verb use, and both semantic and syntactic accuracy. Method A group of 17 children with language impairment (mean age = 6;10 [years; months]) was compared with a group of 17 younger children with typical language development (mean age = 4;6). Examples of both nonfinite complements with different subjects and sentential complements involving a range of complement-taking verbs were collected using specially designed elicitation tasks. Results The children with language impairment were able to construct both types of complement clauses, had access to a range of verbs that are utilized within these constructions, and had knowledge of the grammatical constraints imposed by these verbs. However, they were more restricted in their production of sentential complements and produced significantly fewer semantically accurate complements (both finite and nonfinite) than the children with typical language development. Conclusion Children with language impairment evidenced deviant rather than merely delayed development in the area of complement-clause production. Complex sentences such as complement clauses need to be targeted in language intervention programs. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14963676
Article
Full-text available
The linguistic study of literature or critical analysis of literary discourse is no different from any other textual description; it is not a new branch or a new level or a new kind of linguistics but the application of existing theories and methods (Halliday, 2002). This study intends to determine how ideology or opinion is expressed in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and what kind of lexico-grammatical strategies are used in the first part of this novella to convey the author’s ideological meaning. By focusing on the lexico-grammatical choices in the transitivity system of the structure of the clauses, the researcher tries to shed light on the ideational meaning in the first section of the story. That is, the grammar of the clause as representation (transitivity patterns) which represents the encoding of experiential meanings: meaning about the world, about experience, about how we perceive and experience what is going on. By examining the transitivity patterns in text, we can explain how the field of situation is being constructed, i.e. we can describe what is being talked about and how shifts are achieved in the field. Both Halliday and Hassan have integrated theoretical statements with demonstrations of text analyses (Hassan, Matthiessen, & Webster, 2005). In that spirit, the researcher here offers a textual demonstration of reading of a literary text. In order to do so, the researcher has identified metafunctional patterns of ideation found in the lexico-grammar of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and has noted the author’s use of foregrounding against these patterns to contrast the racist and imperialistic ideologies being opposed to through the frame narration of the whole first part by Marlow as the chief character said to be Conrad’s own voice in the process of sailing and cruising on the Thames in a yawl by the name of Nellie.
Stories For Rainy Days Volume III
  • N Ali
Ali, N. (2018). Stories For Rainy Days Volume III. Jakarta: Pt Gramedia Publications Research.